Grand Dukes - Moscow and St Petersburg

''The hiss and sparkle of iced champagne

And punch bowls topped with bluish flame''.

The Bronze Horseman, Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837)

We call this the Grand Dukes tour because the members of the Russian Imperial Family before 1917 enjoyed the high life on a grand scale, and you can do the same in both Moscow and St Petersburg,'the second capital.' That is why on the Grand Dukes tour there is an equal emphasis upon art galleries and museums as there is upon free time in which you can enjoy yourself as you wish.

You can spend a few hours in the Pushkin Museum, looking at the collection of paintings by Cezanne, Matisse and Picasso, bought by the millionaire merchants Shchukin and Morozov at the beginning of last century, and then go for lunch perhaps at one of the watering holes favoured by the Moscow elite. Tolstoy writes about the Russians' fondness for French champagne, and a hundred years later nothing has changed.

If you think that they know how to spend money today in Moscow, that is nothing compared to the fabulous sums spent by the emperors, empresses and grand dukes in St Petersburg. After you have seen the Hermitage, the Yusupov Palace and St Isaac's Cathedral just in the centre of the city, you will understand what we mean. However, there is more, for outside of the city there is Peterhof with its golden fountains and the Catherine Palace with its Hall of Mirrors. They knew how to live, the Grand Dukes.

Please contact us for day-by-day itinerary.

Accommodation

Ararat Park Hyatt in Moscow
Grand Hotel Europe in St Petersburg

Single Supplement: £895.00
All prices per person, sharing.
Cost of flight and visa not included. We can arrange all aspects of your Russian visa.